Dear Editor,

The future of the People’s National Party appears to be in jeopardy — well, further jeopardy.

Here is a party with no sense of direction or leadership that has been in constant opposition mode to the Government, while not recommending any concrete solutions, policy, framework or crime plan.

It is worrying that the party has weakened since the last general election, and is now divided over a presidential leadership race between Peter Phillips and Peter Bunting.

The ongoing campaign to see who will become victorious on September 7, 2019 has created more uncertainty concerning whether or not the People’s National Party will even bounce back.

The People’s National Party that Jamaica knew with former prime ministers P J Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller is no more. It appears to be barely thriving and only surviving by the masses who claim to be ‘die-hearted’ Comrades.

Will the image of the party be restored? Will it ever be as attractive to Jamaican youth as the Jamaica Labour Party which uses social media as a tool on a daily basis? I cannot tell. I can only hope that there will be some intervention, but at this point, I doubt there will be.

The battle is intensifying with the two Peters and there is clearly no unity. Imagine my surprise when I realised that Bunting was absent from the anti-corruption protest/vigil — an event organised by the People’s National Party. What signal is that sending to those who vote consistently for the party?

When a divided Jamaica Labour Party went to the polls in 2011, they lost. The trend continues with the People’s National Party.

At this point, the division can only be fixed if there is a new leader and, to my knowledge, it cannot be Phillips or Bunting. Their hearts might be in the right place, but they lack the youthful appeal needed to win an election. They need to appeal to the youthful audience, but they have not been doing so. They continue to appeal to the same electorate over and over.

We can only hope that the People’s National Party will one day get it right for the spirit of democracy to really thrive.

Andre Heslop

Andreheslop9@gmail.com